Philip Andre "Mickey"Rourke Jr. (/rʊərk/ROORK; born September 16, 1952)[2] is an American actor and former professionalboxer who has appeared primarily as aleading man in drama, action, and thriller films. In afilm career spanning more than forty years, his accolades include aBAFTA and aGolden Globe, in addition to nominations for anAcademy Award and anActor Award. Films in which he has appeared have grossed over $1.9 billion worldwide.[3]
Rourke's film debut was a small role in1941 (1979), but it was his short yet powerful performance in the well-received neo-noirBody Heat (1981) that initially garnered attention of film critics, includingRoger Ebert, who called it his "breakthrough role" and the "best supporting work" in the film.[4] He then went on to win wider acclaim and aNational Society of Film Critics Award for his role inDiner (1982). He subsequently established himself as a leading man, giving lauded performances in dramas such asRumble Fish (1983),The Pope of Greenwich Village (1984),Year of the Dragon (1985),9½ Weeks (1986),Angel Heart (1987),Barfly (1987), andJohnny Handsome (1989). In 1991, after some critical and commercial failures, Rourke—who trained as a boxer in his youth—left acting to pursue professional boxing.[5] After retiring from boxing in 1994, Rourke returned to acting and had supporting roles in several films such asThe Rainmaker (1997),Buffalo '66 (1998),Animal Factory (2000),The Pledge (2001),Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003),Man on Fire (2004) andDomino (2005). In 2005, Rourke made a comeback in mainstream Hollywood circles with a lead role in the neo-noir action thrillerSin City.
Philip Andre Rourke Jr. was born on September 16, 1952, inSchenectady, New York.[2] He hasIrish andFrench ancestry.[7] He was raisedCatholic and still practices his faith.[8][9][10] His father left the family when Rourke was around six years old.[11] After his parents divorced, his mother married Eugene Addis, aMiami Beach police officer with five sons, and moved Rourke and two younger siblings toSouth Florida. Rourke has mentioned his stepfather was physically abusive to both him and his mother.[12][13] There, he graduated fromMiami Beach Senior High School in 1971.[14]
"My stepfather used to crack my head just because he felt like it. He was big, very big, and mean. And he was physically abusive to my mother. I hated the f***er for hurting her, for making her afraid. For years, I wanted nothing more than to take him down. In our neighborhood, there was some community services center set up to give kids a place to go and to keep us out of trouble. That's where I first found a speed [punching] bag. To me, it represented a ticket to manhood..."
During his teenage years, Rourke focused his attention mainly on sports. He took up self-defense training at theBoys Club ofMiami.[citation needed] It was there that he learned boxing skills and decided on an amateur career.
At age 12, Rourke won his first boxing match as a 112-pound (51 kg)flyweight,[16] fighting some of his early matches under the name Phil Rourke. He continued his boxing training at the famed5th Street Gym, inMiami Beach, Florida. In 1969, Rourke, then weighing 140 pounds (63.5 kg),[citation needed] sparred with former World Welterweight ChampionLuis Rodríguez. Rodríguez was the number one–ratedmiddleweight (154 lb to 160 lb) boxer in the world and was training for his match with world championNino Benvenuti. Rourke says he received aconcussion from his sparring match with Rodríguez.[17]
At the 1971FloridaGolden Gloves, Rourke suffered another concussion in a boxing match. After being told by doctors to take a year off and rest, Rourke temporarily retired from the ring. From 1964 to 1973, Rourke compiled an amateur boxing record of 27 wins (including 12 straight knockouts), including a first-round knockout win over John Carver and decision victories over Ronnie Carter and Javier Villanueva, and three defeats.[16]
In 1991, Rourke decided that he "had to go back to boxing" because he felt that he "was self-destructing ... [and] had no respect for [himself as] an actor".[5] Rourke was undefeated in eight fights, with six wins (four by knockout) and two draws. He fought internationally in countries including Spain, Japan, and Germany.[18] During his boxing career, Rourke suffered a number of injuries, including a broken nose, toe, and ribs, a split tongue, and a compressed cheekbone. He also suffered from short-term memory loss.[19]
His trainer during most of his boxing career wasHells Angels member, actor, and celebritybodyguardChuck Zito.[20]Freddie Roach also trained Rourke for seven fights.[21] Rourke's entrance song into the ring was oftenGuns N' Roses' "Sweet Child o' Mine" (to which reference is made in his filmThe Wrestler, in which Rourke's character enters his final match of the film to the song playing over the loudspeakers).[22] Boxing promoters said that Rourke was too old to succeed against top-level fighters. Indeed, Rourke himself admits that entering the ring was a sort of personal test: "[I] just wanted to give it a shot, test myself that way physically, while I still had time."[23] Rourke's boxing career resulted in a notable physical change in the 1990s, as his face neededreconstructive surgery to mend his injuries.
On November 28, 2014, Rourke briefly returned to the boxing ring and fought 29-year-old Elliot Seymour inMoscow, Russia.[24] It was Rourke's first boxing match in over 20 years. Talks of him being involved in four more matches were released by Rourke himself after the match. He won the exhibition fight in the second round by TKO. The fight is not counted in his professional record since it was an exhibition match. The opponent later stated that he threw the fight, having been promised payment to take a dive in the second round.[25]
In 1971, as a senior atMiami Beach Senior High School, Rourke had a small acting role in theJay W. Jensen–directed school playThe Serpent.[26] However, Rourke's interests were geared to boxing, and he never appeared in any other school productions. Soon after he temporarily gave up boxing, a friend at theUniversity of Miami told Rourke about a play he was directing,Deathwatch, and how the man playing the role of Green Eyes had quit. Rourke got the part and immediately became enamored with acting. Borrowing $400 from his sister, he moved to New York,[27] working an assortment of odd jobs while studying withActors Studio alumni Walter Lott andSandra Seacat.[28][29] It was under the latter's tutelage, Rourke later recalled, that "everything started to click." Seacat motivated Rourke to find his father, from whom he was separated for more than twenty years.[30]
During his appearance onInside the Actors Studio, after the release ofThe Wrestler, hostJames Lipton disclosed that Rourke had been selected to the Actors Studio in his first audition, whichElia Kazan is reported to have said was the "best audition in thirty years".
In 1987, Rourke gave what is widely considered to be one of his greatest performances inAngel Heart. The film was nominated for several awards. It was somewhat controversial, owing to a sex scene involvingCosby Show cast memberLisa Bonet,[32] who won an award for her part in the film.[citation needed] Although some of Rourke's work was controversial in the US, he was well received by European, and especially French audiences, who loved the "rumpled, slightly dirty, sordid ... rebel persona"[33] that he projected inYear of the Dragon,9½ Weeks,Angel Heart, andDesperate Hours. DirectorAdrian Lyne said that had Rourke died after the release ofAngel Heart, he would have become a bigger phenomenon thanJames Dean.[17]
In 1987, Rourke performed withDavid Bowie on theNever Let Me Down album. Rourke provided the mid-song rap on the song "Shining Star (Makin' My Love)".[34] Around the same time, he also wrote his first screenplay,Homeboy, a boxing tale in which he starred. In 1989, Rourke starred in the docudramaFrancesco, portrayingSt. Francis of Assisi. This was followed byWild Orchid, another critically panned film, which gained him a nomination for aRazzie award (also forDesperate Hours). In 1991, he starred in the box office bombHarley Davidson and the Marlboro Man as Harley Davidson, a biker whose best friend, Marlboro, was played byDon Johnson. In his last role before departing for the boxing ring, Rourke played an arms dealer chased byWillem Dafoe andSamuel L. Jackson inWhite Sands, afilm noir that reviewers found stylish but incoherent.[citation needed][35][36]
While Rourke was also selected for a significant role inTerrence Malick'sThe Thin Red Line, his part ended up on thecutting room floor. Rourke also played a small part in the filmThursday, in which he plays a crooked cop. He also had a lead role in 1997'sDouble Team, which co-starred martial arts actorJean-Claude Van Damme and formerNBA playerDennis Rodman. It was Rourke's first over-the-top action film role, in which he played the lead villain. During that same year, he filmedAnother 9½ Weeks, a sequel to9½ Weeks, which received only limited distribution. He ended the 1990s with thedirect-to-video filmsOut in Fifty,Shades and television filmShergar, about the kidnapping of Epsom Derby-winning thoroughbred racehorseShergar. Rourke has expressed his bitterness over that period of his career, stating that he came to consider himself a "has-been" and lived for a time in "a state of shame".[40]
In addition, in 2004, Rourke provided the voice for "Jericho" in the third installment of theDriver video game series. Rourke also appeared in a 40-page story by photographerBryan Adams for Berlin'sZoo Magazine. In an article about Rourke's return to steady acting roles, entitled "Mickey Rourke Rising", Christopher Heard stated that actorsJohnny Depp,Sean Penn, andBrad Pitt gave "animated praise for Rourke and his work".[23] During a roundtable session of Oscar-nominated actors held byNewsweek, Brad Pitt cited Rourke as one of his early acting heroes along with Sean Penn andGary Oldman.[41]
Despite having withdrawn from acting at various points, and having made films that he now sees as a creative "sellout" (the action filmHarley Davidson and the Marlboro Man), Rourke stated that "all that I have been through ...[has] made me a better, more interesting actor". Rourke's renewed interest in pursuing acting can be seen in his statement that "my best work is still ahead of me".[23]
Rourke had a role in the film version ofThe Informers, playing Peter, an amoral former studio security guard who plots to kidnap a small child. In 2008, Rourke played the lead inDarren Aronofsky'sThe Wrestler, winner of theGolden Lion Award for Best Film at theVenice Film Festival, about washed-up professional wrestler Randy "The Ram" Robinson.[42] Regarding first reading thescreenplay, he stated that he originally "didn't care for it".
I didn't really care for the script, but I wanted to work with Darren and I kind of thought that whoever wrote the script hadn't spent as much time as I had around these kind of people and he wouldn't have spoken the way the dude was speaking. And, so Darren let merewrite all my part and he put the periods in and crossed the T's. So once we made that change I was okay with it.[43]
He also spoke on personal concern and hesitance of being in a film about wrestling, for he perceived it as being "pre-arranged andpre-choreographed". As he trained for the film, he developed an appreciation and respect for what real-life pro wrestlers do to prepare for the ring:
I kept getting hurt. I think I had threeMRIs in two months because I wasn't landing right. These guys take several years to learn how to land and I think after I started getting hurt doing it, I started to realize these guys are really suffering and I kind of gained a respect for their sport.[43]
He trained under former WWE wrestlerAfa the Wild Samoan for the part, and has received aBAFTA award, aGolden Globe award, anIndependent Spirit Award, and an Oscar nomination as Best Actor. Rourke lost the Oscar toSean Penn, while Penn did acknowledge Rourke in his acceptance speech.
Rourke has written or co-written six scripts:Homeboy,The Last Ride,Bullet,Killer Moon,Penance and the latest,Pain. Of these, the first three were produced as films between 1988 and 1996.
In 2010, Rourke played the role of the main villainWhiplash in the filmIron Man 2. In an interview with New Zealand magazineRip It Up magazine he revealed that he prepared for the role by visiting Russian jail inmates.[44] In 2011, he portrayed the villainous King Hyperion inImmortals and received praise for his performance, while the film received mixed-to-positive reviews and became a box office success. He also had a minor role as Tool inSylvester Stallone'sThe Expendables. Though he had little screen time, his performance was met with rave reviews and cited as one of the film's highlights.
Just before the end of the year, he confirmed on a British TV talk show that he would playGareth Thomas in an upcoming film about the Welsh rugby star whocame out as gay the previous year.[45] As of February 2011, he began research on the film, but noted, "We're not going to make this movie until we've done all the proper research. We need to do our homework and I need to train for from nine to eleven months."[46] In 2011, Rourke was cast in the filmJava Heat as an American citizen shadowing terrorist groups inJava, Indonesia. The film was released in 2013.[47] In 2014, he reprised hisMarv role fromSin City in the sequelSin City: A Dame to Kill For.
In 2020, Rourke competed inseason four ofThe Masked Singer as "Gremlin" and sang "Stand by Me" byBen E. King. After the performance, the Gremlin costume became too hot for him and he ended up unmasking himself before the audience could even vote for their favorite performer.[48]
Rourke starred in the 2020 Canadian-American thriller filmGirl in which he played a sheriff. His co-starBella Thorne accused him of injuring her pelvis instead of hitting her knee caps as intended in the scene and claimed he was uncooperative on set, refusing to speak with crew.[49]
In April 2025, Rourke entered the British version ofCelebrity Big Brother to appear as a housemate on itstwenty-fourth season.[51] In his first live appearance, he was criticized for an on-air physical action towards the show's co-hostAJ Odudu, grabbing her by the waist and making her 'clearly uncomfortable', with some viewers wanting him to be taken off the show. On the third episode of the series, Rourke made openlyhomophobic and disparaging remarks towards housemateJoJo Siwa, and was subsequently given a formal warning by the show for his conduct.[52] On April 12, it was announced that Rourke had been removed from the house, due to "inappropriate language and instances of unacceptable behaviour", this time toward housematesElla Wise (unwanted sexual remark) andChris Hughes (aggressive verbal confrontation).[53] As of April 2025, Rourke was planning to sueITV after only receiving £50,000 of his agreed £500,000 fee.[54]
Rourke made his stage debut in a revival ofArthur Miller'sA View from the Bridge. He lent his voice to the video gamesDriv3r (2004) as Charles Jericho andTrue Crime: New York City (2005) as Terrence "Terry" Higgins, which was his fifth and last work with actorChristopher Walken. He also appeared in a Japanese TV commercial forSuntory Reserve (early '90s) and a commercial forDaihatsu andLark cigarettes. In 2009, Rourke voiced the character ofDick Marcinko for the biographical video gameRogue Warrior, which was released on December 1, 2009.[55]
In 2010, he appeared in a Dutch TV commercial forBavaria Beer.[56]
Rourke has been the subject of two extensive biographies on his life and careerStand Alone: The Films of Mickey Rourke andHollywood Outlaw: The Life of Mickey Rourke both were written by British author Saurav Dutt. In 2014, Dutt announced he was producing and writing a novelization inspired by an undeveloped script for a movie that Rourke wrote titledWild Horses which was eventually released in Fall 2015.[57][better source needed]
Rourke has dated several celebrities, includingTerry Farrell and Sasha Volkova.[citation needed] He has been married twice and does not have children. In 1981, he marriedDebra Feuer, whom he met on the set of TV movieHardcase and who co-starred with him inHomeboy (1988) as his love interest. The marriage ended in 1989, with Rourke subsequently commenting that making the film9½ Weeks "was not particularly considerate to my wife's needs."[58] The two have remained good friends, according to an interview Feuer gave in 2009.[59]
Rourke marriedWild Orchid co-starCarré Otis on June 26, 1992. In 1994, Rourke was arrested on suspicion ofspousal abuse.[60] The charges were later dropped and the couple reconciled before starring together inExit in Red. Their marriage ultimately ended in December 1998.
In November 2007, Rourke was arrested again, this time onDUI charges in Miami Beach.[61]
In numerous TV and print interviews, he attributes his comeback after 14 years to his agentDavid A. Unger,[62][63] weekly meetings with a psychiatrist, "Steve", a Catholic priest, Father Peter Colapietro, and his dogs.[64] Rourke had been described as a "real goodCatholic" by late friendTom Sizemore.[65]
From 2009 to 2015, Rourke was in a relationship with Ukrainian-born German model Anastassija Makarenko.[66]Rourke stated during an interview withPiers Morgan on July 12, 2022, he has been single for the past 7 years. In 2023, it was reported that Rourke had begun training inBrazilian jiu-jitsu.[67]
In early 2026, it emerged that Rourke had fallen behind with his rent and his landlord had filed an eviction notice. AGoFundMe started without his knowledge reached its goal within two days, but Rourke was angry at the unsolicited help.[68][69][70]
In May 1989, Rourke revealed that he donated most of his £1.5 million earnings from starring inFrancesco to supportProvisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) memberJoe Doherty's campaign to receivepolitical asylum in the United States. Doherty was wanted by theBritish government for his role in the killing ofGrenadier Guards officerHerbert Westmacott. After being arrested in the U.S. in 1983, Doherty's campaign became acause célèbre as he fought an ultimately unsuccessful nine-year legal battle against beingextradited. Rourke's donation was criticized by victims of IRA bombing attacks in England.[71][72] Doherty was eventually deported to Northern Ireland and imprisoned, but was subsequently released under the terms of theGood Friday Agreement.[citation needed]
In June 2006, Rourke publicly supported U.S. PresidentGeorge W. Bush and American involvement in theIraq War.[73] In January 2009, Rourke expressed admiration for Bush in an interview withGQ magazine. In the interview, Rourke also expressed his astonishment thatIslamic fundamentalists were allowed to continue their activities in Britain after the7 July 2005 London bombings.[74]
In August 2014, Rourke came under scrutiny for purchasing and wearing a T-shirt bearing the likeness of Russian PresidentVladimir Putin at a time when most of the Western world was criticizing and sanctioning Russia due to theannexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation.[75] When questioned by the press, Rourke explained: "If I didn't like him, I wouldn't buy the T-shirt, believe me. I met him a couple of times and he was a real gentleman. A very cool, regular guy. Looked me right in the eye. Good guy."[76] However, Rourke has since denounced Putin for his role in theRussian invasion of Ukraine and has urged him to end the conflict.[77][78]
In 2015, Rourke expressed his support for theBen Carson 2016 presidential campaign. He also denounced Republican frontrunnerDonald Trump as a "bully".[79] Rourke revealed that he has had a personal vendetta against Trump after an incident in which Trump sued both him andTupac Shakur in the 1990s.[80] Rourke has since been very vocal in his criticisms of Trump's presidency, referring to him as a "Garbage Can" president.[81] In 2022, Rourke claimed that Trump had sent theUnited States Secret Service to visit him as a result of his comments on Trump.[82]
In addition to his faith, Rourke has publicly attributed his comeback to his dogs. He is known as a pet lover, particularly fond of small-breed dogs. Aspay/neuter advocate, Rourke participated in a protest outside a pet shop in 2007[86] and has done a public service announcement forPETA.[87]
His first little dog was reportedly a gift from his second wife.[86] Though Rourke's dogs are generally referred to as "chihuahuas", some are not purebred. Loki, his most-publicized dog whom he described as "the love of my life",[86] was a chihuahua-terrier mix.[62][88] So reliant was Rourke on Loki's companionship, he spent US$5,400 to have her flown to England while he was on the set of the filmStormbreaker.[88]
Rourke gave his dogs credit during his Golden Globe Best Actor acceptance speech January 11, 2009: "I'd like to thank all my dogs. The ones that are here, the ones that aren't here anymore because sometimes when a man's alone, that's all you got is your dog. And they've meant the world to me."[89] The day of the2009 Golden Globes, he toldBarbara Walters that "I sort of self-destructed and everything came out about 14 years ago or so ... the wife had left, the career was over, the money was not an ounce. The dogs were there when no one else was there." Asked by Walters if he had consideredsuicide, he responded:
Yeah, I didn't want to be here, but I didn't want to kill myself. I just wanted to push a button and disappear.... I think I hadn't left the house for four or five months, and I was sitting in the closet, sleeping in the closet for some reason, and I was in a bad place, and I just remember I was thinking, "Oh, man, if I do this," [and] then I looked at my dog, Beau Jack, and he made a sound, like a little almost human sound. I don't have kids, the dogs became everything to me. The dog was looking at me going, "Who's going to take care of me?"
Beau Jack sired two of Rourke's later pets, Loki and her littermate Chocolate.[91] Beau Jack died in 2002, although Rourke reportedly gave him 45 minutes ofmouth-to-mouth resuscitation.[88][92] Chocolate was the subject of a children's book,Chocolate at the Four Seasons, about his temporary stay with producerBonnie Timmermann.[93] Chocolate returned to Rourke and died in 2006.[93] In addition to those dogs and several other past pets, Rourke owned a chihuahua named Jaws who appeared with him in his 2009 PETA ad, as well as in the filmOnce Upon a Time in Mexico.[87] Jaws originally was named "Little Mickey" and was slated to be euthanized before adoption. Rourke also believed Jaws was previously abused.[94] He has had as many as seven dogs at one time, back in 2005.[92] At the time of his Golden Globes tribute to his pets, Rourke owned five chihuahuas: Loki, Jaws, Ruby Baby, La Negra and Bella Loca.[88] About a month later, on February 16, 2009, Loki died in Rourke's arms at the age of 18.[95]
